Tottenham Hotspur’s chairman, Daniel Levy, confirmed his reputation for being
the toughest negotiator in European football last night after drawing
criticism from Lyon for his hardball stance over Hugo Lloris.

Tentative: The transfer of Lloris to Tottenham is now in doubt according to Lyon president Jean-Michel AulasPhoto: Getty

Spurs’former manager Harry Redknapp had a reputation for “wheeling and dealing”, which he angrily rejected, but those who do business with the White Hart Lane club have always privately said it is Levy who really plays the market.

Now it is out in the open as Lyon’s president, Jean-Michel Aulas, one of the most respected and longest-serving figures at the top of the European game, accused Levy of going back on his word.

“We had people speaking all night with Daniel Levy,” said Aulas, a former president of the G14 group of elite clubs. “He talks a lot and goes back on what we’ve agreed in writing. Agreements have not at all been respected.

“The first negotiation was at the start of the window, about a month and a half ago, through an intermediary who was a French lawyer who lives in Lyon. And then nothing for about a month and a half. The negotiation then picked up again about a week ago.

“We had email exchanges which have been contradicted, so that’s made it very complicated. It’s difficult. The Tottenham board’s theory is to explain that the economic market is very hard and so we have to get used to renegotiating.

“It’s been very, very difficult. I’ve got 25 years of experience as a president of a club and it’s our 16th participation in a European competition in a row. But this is very rare in the football world. The negotiation with the Tottenham directors has been the hardest I have ever had to undergo in these 25 years.”

Although the deal went through last night after Lloris flew to London to undergo a medical, there were suggestions that the pressure had upset the player, perhaps confirming claims from those that claim that at times Levy 'overnegotiates’. “Hugo has been troubled by the difficulty in these negotiations,” Aulas said.

But Levy has seldom failed to generate enormous sums for his club, which has contributed to the construction of a £25 million training facility at the same time as work on a £400 million stadium.

The near £50 million raised from the sales of Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United in 2006 and 2008 proved his skill in generating transfer-market cash.

But some question whether his approach comes at a cost. In games prior to the transfer deadline at the start of the past two seasons, Spurs have taken only one point from a possible 12. Last season they missed out on a place in the Champions League by one point.